In the latest Simonds Homes TVC my ‘TV Family’ has been brought forward in time…into a very modern Simonds Home.
Spending a few hours on set tinkering with a remote control 4×4 made this one of the more fun shoots I’ve done.

I recently spent the whole day (from 7am until after 6pm) on the set of House Husbands working as an extra.

No, I’m not going to be leaking any story lines from the script, somewhere along the way I signed piece of paper that says I won’t do that – so I simply can’t talk about that part. (you’ll just have to watch the show)

One of the interesting things about being an extra though is meeting other extras. As I mentioned in a previous post it’s not the sort of job that necessarily leads to bigger and better roles but for some it’s simply a job that suits the time they have available and for what’s required the pay rate is ok.

There I go walking by in the background

Some of the people worked alongside today did include a couple of aspiring actors, but then there were Supermarket employees, those who usually just did “home duties” and a few like me to just dabble in all sorts of media. Oh then there’s the ‘fan’. I haven’t some across this sort of person until today but I did notice a couple of people who were maybe just a bit too excited just to be in the same room as the actors on the show. Of course that’s all fine as long as they don’t attempt to strike up a conversation with them while working or bug them for photos – that sort of thing is simply not on during a shoot, after all everyone is there to do a job and to focus on work.

Wheeling Gary away in hospital

Anyway it was a long but interesting day and when I know the specific episode it going to air I’ll be sure to post about it in more detail.

I like to get out and do a few different things these days, but they are all somewhat connected. Working in Radio lead to becoming a voice-over artist, which lead to presenting on-camera for online videos and even a bit of TV.

Lately I’ve been exploring the world of TV a little more, doing some extras work with a show called Offpring – and yesterday I also worked as an extra on Neighbours.

What exactly is an extra? Well take a look in the background of any TV show or Movie. Most likely all those people you see are extras. They are there to simply fill the scene with real people. Yes, that’s a paid job and the main requirements are that you don’t speak and follow the directions you are given by the assistant director.

It requires quite a bit of patience as much of the time spent on set could involve waiting around for your next instruction, but you always need to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.

If you’re looking at getting into acting, getting some work as an extra may help you become with what it’s like to be on a film set, but don’t expect that to be the place you’ll be ‘discovered’ as the job of a extra is simply to be part of the background, not the center of attention.

Ok, so if you think being an extra is something you’d like to do don’t start by calling the TV stations. You’ll need to get signed up with a Talent Agent with a professional head-shot. A bit of Googling shoud point you in the right direction.